It’s sort of funny that I say positive things about the changes going on with Godiva lately: while I feel that the greater leaning towards informality suits their products, wouldn’t it be better for them to instead tweak up product ingredients and such to suit the high quality image they have set up for themselves? Perhaps so, yet I found myself only delighted to stumble across rows of their Ice Cream Parlor line while in another store, the chocolates looking like high-end sweets rather than couture truffles.

That does seem to be the aim of something packaged in a plastic drink container: it isn’t as if that looks very classy. In fact, it isn’t entirely fitting with the Ice Cream Parlor theme, either, even if you can buy drinks at ice cream shops, too. But it gets your attention in the right way for what the chocolates themselves offer.

The Ice Cream Parlor flavors (vanilla, mint, and orange cream are some others) are available in a couple of different forms, including bars. And of course, part of the idea behind the Gems (which isn’t limited to Ice Cream Parlor flavors) range is to walk into a Godiva store and fill a bag yourself with as few or as many as you like. They aren’t proper truffles, no, nor are they exempt from frightful ingredients. But I really don’t much mind, after all. If the goal is to recreate an ice cream experience in terms of chocolate, I would say there is success. These chocolates are quite different from the Strawberry bar I had before: not only does the filling (thanks to some Red 40 and other friends) look rather like ice cream (though it appears more orange in the picture than pink), it also has that particular milky, creamy taste. The strawberry tastes just as it would as part of ice cream.

These are very edible. They really are the sort of thing I would be glad to buy while out picking up other things rather than to make a specific trip to a Godiva store for. They’re the right level above the Snickers bags, while still essentially fulfilling the same kind of sweet tooth craving.